Meet Tyra Djigal | Loctician

We had the good fortune of connecting with Tyra Djigal and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tyra, what habits do you feel play an important role in your life?
It’s important to enjoy what you do. I genuinely love doing locs. It never feels like work. Determination is imperative for success. Determination will open doors for you and have you in rooms that you never thought you would be in. There are many talented locticians but it’s my determination that helps me to stand out. I am determined to make sure my clients leave my chair happy and want to return. I treat my customers how I would want to be treated. Habits that have helped me to succeed is keeping a positive outlook no matter what things look like. Being an entrepreneur is not easy. You have to take the good with the bad. I am always a student and open to learn new things. There are times I wanted to give up when business was slow and I could not pay my bills but I didn’t. I used that energy and turned it around. I would find new ways to market myself.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I have been doing locs for 28 years. I was never the little girl that wanted to do hair when I grew up. I was a banker after some college but was very unhappy. I always knew I wanted to be self employed so when I got the opportunity to leave the bank with a package deal that would me over for a while I took it. I began a greeting card line that I created with my photography as the cover and my poetry on the inside. My greeting cards were in 32 stores throughout Queens, Brooklyn and New York City. I would collect my sales money monthly and one of the store owners had a salon in the back of his store. He saw that me and my children had locs and asked me if I wanted to work there. It was very financially difficult in the beginning. My salary was drastically lower than what I was making at the bank. I realized I had to market myself. People needed to know I existed. I printed up postcards with pictures and me and small children would give them out. It helped that my kids were so cute and had locs.
Fast forward to the birth of social media. Instagram gave me a free platform to advertise my work. I hired a marketing manager that worked my Instagram page and he helped me to reach people that may have ever known I existed. My clientele began to increase.
I service between 8-16 people a day. Customer retention is very important to me. I have always been complimented on my customer service skills. It’s important to master your skill but it’s also important to have good customer service skills. I am most proud of being in this business for 28 years. I work in Miami and NYC and have homes in both locations. Without my clients there would be no Locs NYC to Miami. It’s been. very long journey a not an easy one. People say I make it look easy but I always let them know it’s not but worth it.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I love The Smith in Lincoln Square l. I love going to Brooklyn Chop
house in Times Square. Cantina in Harlem and for dessert I like to go Magnolias I love to shop on 5th ave and go to Saks and Zara.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I am surrounded by a community of people that want to see me succeed. My ex husband Alassane helps me with my product line Olufe By Tyra. I work and travel a lot so without him I would not be able to run my business as smooth as it runs now. We have been divorced for over 20 years but when I told him I needed help he was there. Another person that wants to see me succeed is my best friend Lisa of over 30 years. She is also the owner of a small business and we discuss customer service and marketing tips a lot.
Madam CJ Walker is a woman that inspires me being the 1st black woman to become a millionaire in the hair industry.

Website: https://Olufebytyra.Com

Instagram: https://Instagram.com/locs_nyc_to_miami